Canada’s forestry sector contributes significantly to jobs and GDP, but the industry is being challenged by the digitization of print and global market pressures.
A key opportunity identified by the sector and the Ontario Government’s recently published forestry sector strategy is to develop new and innovative wood-based products. By diversifying production away from low-value commodity products like paper, there is an opportunity to transform pulp and paper mills into biomanufacturing plants that produce high-value materials.
To help accomplish this, Ontario Genomics is supporting Fortress Advanced Bioproducts, a company valorizing pulp and paper mill side streams into xylitol, a low-calorie sweetener. Fortress is partnering with the University of Toronto to optimize a key step in the xylitol production process that reduces operational costs and improves competitiveness in the market.
